UMUR "Dirty" is the 6th full-length studio album by Italian black metal act Aborym. The album was released through Agonia Records in May 2013. It´s the follow up to the band´s 2010 album "Psychogrotesque". Aborym have been through quite an interesting development in sound and personel through the years, and if anyone thought the band had settled with the release of "Generator (2006)" and "Psychogrotesque (2010)", which feature a relatively similar musical approach, they will be surprised by the direction Aborym take on "Dirty".

The music is still quite adventurous (which is also the case on the two direct predecessors) and you can definitely defend calling the music style on the album progressive black metal, even though the music isn´t overtly complex in structure and the playing is not technically focused as a stylistic element. This is still technically well played music though, featuring both blastbeats and a host of other tempi. The big difference between "Dirty" and the two predecessors is how much Aborym embrace industrial and goth elements on this album. An act like Nine Inch Nails come to mind at various times on the album. The clean vocals on the album provide the album with the goth touch (I´m sometimes reminded of how Kreator sounded on "Endorama (1999)"). There are actually a surprisingly large amount of clean vocal sections on "Dirty" even though Malfeitor Fabban also snarl away in his usual black metal type delivery. The music features an omnipresence of keyboards/synths and even the occasional use of electronic beats (take a listen to "Helter Skelter Youth") and in that respect the sound on "Dirty" harks back to the band´s early album releases.

"Dirty" is a well produced and powerful sounding album. It´s the kind of album where you´ll find new details with each new listen. To my ears it´s quite a bold move to release an album like this. I think it´ll be a fan base divider, but it´s certainly proof that Aborym haven´t stagnated. Personally I think the result is somewhat a mixed bag, that doesn´t quite live up to the high quality of the two predecessors, but "Dirty" is the kind of album that you might listen to in 10 years and have a different opinion about. Therefore my 3.5 star (70%) rating is not set in stone.

Kev Rowland This is the sixth album from Aborym, and has been released as a double CD. Formed in 1992 by frontman Fabban, Aborym started life as a covers band and went through several transformations, eventually pioneering what the band calls “hard-industrial-electro extreme metal”. Today’s line-up consists of Italians Fabban on vocals, bass and synths and Paolo Pieri (Hour Of Penance) on guitars, keyboards and programming, together with Norway’s Bard “Faust” Eithun (Blood Tsunami, Mongo Ninja, ex-Emperor) on drums. When I first put this album on the player the temperature dropped (I honestly felt physically colder as the music went on), and I was transported to the middle of a Norwegian wood in Winter, watching a pitched battle between Rammstein, Throbbing Gristle, Children of Bodom and Napalm Death with no clear idea of who was going to win.

Various words came to mind as I played this, including “intense” and “bleak”. Somehow these guys are expert at conjuring up a post apocalyptic vision in sound, and the result is an extreme version of black metal that has more than a nod to both industrial and grindcore. It is a very draining album to listen to due to the sheer intensity and power of what is taking place, yet the listener feels compelled to play it all the way through to the end without taking a break, although it is almost a relief when the music stops. I found some of the cover versions on the second CD really interesting, particularly Maiden’s “Hallowed Be Thy Name” and Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb”. The first has been deconstructed and has way more keyboards that one could imagine, while the second is virtually straight and is at total odds with the rest of the album.

This is not an easy album to listen to, and many will want to discard it out of hand completely, but if you want cutting edge extreme metal then this is one of the most incredible things I have ever come across. For more details visit www.agoniarecords.com